How to Convert Your HD-DVD Discs to Blu-Ray 275
eldavojohn writes "Are you one of the few who boarded the HD-DVD Titanic ship headed to the bottom of ocean to join BetaMax? Fret no longer, friend, simply convert those and pretend like you never invested in the wrong technology! All you need is a Windows machine with a fast processor, an HD-DVD drive, a Blu-Ray burner, 30GB of free disk space, at least, though 40GB or more is recommended and an internet connection to download the software! Or you can sit and be the crazy guy who continues to argue that HD-DVD is the superior technology whether it's true or not."
Re:Oh is that all (Score:5, Informative)
Or better still, since their value is already gone, sit back and happily watch your worthless HD-DVD discs like you would have done anyway. Replace them in a couple of years time when the current Blu Ray releases have come down in price substantially.
Sounds better than shelling out for expensive blanks (and a burner, if you wouldn't have been buying one otherwise), especially when you're probably going to have to compress the film down to fit on a single-layer Blu Ray.
compusa (Score:2, Informative)
Re:What's the point? (Score:3, Informative)
Well, just make sure you use the BDAV profile (the "dumb" collection-of-videos mode).
Only BDMV (mastered movies) discs are an issue in playing back in standalone machines. Since you're not supposed to be mastering these except to test before pressing, you shouldn't have an issue.
Unless your standalone player supports BDMV on writable BDs.
Re:Get a pen (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Oh is that all (Score:5, Informative)
And, uh, HD?
Re:Get a pen (Score:5, Informative)
The hum occurs because of an amplified ground loop. A ground loop is formed when the output of a grounded audio device is passed into an amplifier connected to the same ground. Shielded cabling will then ground the chaises of the signal device and the amplifier together, creating a closed loop between the devices and the electrical earth. This closed loop can then build up a 60hz cycle, I believe through induction with the power mains, but have not found a definitive answer. Normally this cycle is not enough to be electrically significant, except it is passed through an amplifier along with the desired signal. Removing the ground pin from one device will indeed open the circuit, preventing the ground loop from being able to cause a hum.
However, as you surmised, disconnecting the ground from an electrical device can be dangerous. The accepted way to open the circuit is by breaking the ground connection between the amplifier and the signal device, generally at the amplifier rather than the signal source. Doing so will essentially eliminate the effectiveness of the cable shielding, but will also eliminate the loud 60hz hum which is generally much louder than any electrical interference you will find. However, the electrical ground of your electronics will not be compromised, saving the equipment and operator from damage in the case of a malfunction.
Re:Get a pen (Score:3, Informative)
I had a conversation with my electrical engineer father, asking him about what might have gone wrong, and after he was done slapping me for being so stupid, he gave me the exact same informative lecture that's in the parent post.
Shawb, I hope you saved the lips of some young rawker somewhere from an unpleasant surprise. An easy way to sidestep the issue is to use a wireless guitar rig... but that introduces a whole new set of issues.
Re:Just because you bought Blu-Ray... (Score:1, Informative)
Sony's 3.5 inch disk was nothing more than a somewhat more compact version of a standard that had been refined for years. The only reason it stuck is because of the momentum floppy disks had had for YEARS. The inventor of the floppy disk itself (not just shrinking it) was IBM in conjunction with the man who would create Shugart (now Seagate) Technologies, Alan Shugart. The popular 8" format was shrunk to 5 1/4" later by Alan Shugart's own company. I guess we could never see a smaller size coming. No siree! What I think Sony didn't see is that people wanted more than small, and 280 kB [the release size] wasn't going to compete with the 800 kB of the popular 5 1/4" disks of the time, or the humongous 1.2 MB of the 8" disks.
The Compact Disc was first commercially imagined (although not invented, it took some impetus from Sony to help Philips create a saleable model) by Philips. Again, Sony simply rides the coat-tails of the greats that imagine the work.
In fact, that is the one thing that Sony is good at. Take an existing standard, or idea, and improving it (okay, not always). For example, the Walkman. Sony never invented that, but they did take an existing prototype and make it a commercial success (sounds like Philips CDs and IBM floppies all over again!). Their totally new inventions, though, are almost universally flops in the consumer market.
As far as consumers go, the refinement of the 5 1/4" floppy into the 3 1/2" floppy was a success, I'll give you that (although it was a success that took almost a decade to actually be a raving success, by which time most 3 1/2" drives weren't made by Sony, and neither were the disks), and the CD was a success, although Sony didn't invent the technology alone, or even think of it in the first place. In fact, Sony didn't even make the first Compact Disc.
And, just to really drive the last nail in the floppy invented by Sony coffin, their _larger_ 3.5" technology came, again, almost 10 years after the smaller 3" diskette. Yes, really, Sony didn't go smaller, they went bigger, but smaller in capacity!
But yeah, I guess you have me with Betacam. Shucks. I don't suppose there's any chance of that happening with Blu-Ray, is there? Nope, not even a hope of it.